Advertisement

Obama plays soccer with a robot in Japan

President Barack Obama is on a week-long trip to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines, during which he will discuss trade agreements and security issues.

By Aileen Graef

TOKYO, April 24 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama showed his love for sport again as he played soccer with a Japanese robot while touring the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo.

The robot, Asimo, made by car manufacturer Honda, showed its skills to the president by running, hopping on one foot, and then challenging Obama to a little soccer. Obama kicked the ball and congratulated the robot on the pass.

Advertisement

Obama then moved to tour the rest of the museum, where he saw another robot co-funded by the Japanese government and the U.S. agency DARPA that is to assist with disaster relief. The president said he was impressed with what he saw, even if he thought it was a little weird.

"We saw some truly amazing robots," Obama said. "Although, I have to say the robots were a little scary. They were too lifelike. They were amazing and these students, some of them showed me their experiments including some soccer playing robots."

Obama will head to South Korea on Friday for the next leg of his trip.

Latest Headlines